Essie's She's Picture Perfect

During a recent Target trip I stumbled across Essie's Resort 2012 collection.  I picked up No More Film and She's Picture Perfect because they were the only two that I wanted to try.  I wasn't that into the other colors.  I was excited about No More Film but decided to try She's Picture Perfect first since I wanted something more office appropriate.  

And I LOVE it!  Oh man.  This is the lavender polish that I've been searching for so long!  A bunch of Essie's past lavender polishes just didn't suit my skin coloring (e.g., Nice is Nice and Bangle Jangle).  This is different.  It's like a lavender equivalent of Chinchilly, one of my Essie faves.  She's Picture Perfect is a lavender/periwinkle shade with the teensiest bit of shimmer (more evident in the bottle, than on the nails).

I normally don't really like pastels but I've been loving Essie's pastels this year.  They're like neon pastels, if that's even a thing.  Much brighter and pigmented.  None of that old school dusty pale pastel here!  This almost pushes it into a little too much for work because it's so purple and bright, but I love it.  This is a pastel I can get behind!

Dang my cuticles are still ragged.  I have been neglecting my hands recently while I was on my mini polish break.

Seriously, this is the best lavender polish I've ever tried!  Now the consistency is pretty watery and can be tricky to deal with sometimes.  I had to redo two nails, but the others I was careful enough to do two thin layers to achieve opaqueness.  This is with two layers, a base coat, and a top coat.

Now I must attend to my oh so needy pug.  Whatchya looking at there lil pug?  Oh my nails?  Yes this polish is fabulous, don't you agree?!

Spring, Pug, Running Shoes, and Compression Socks

 

Hmm I couldn't think of a clever title for this post so I basically listed all the things I'm going to talk about.  And I chose to start this post with that photo of my pug just because.

 First up, spring is here!  Yea!  Although it's been a bit warm for my tastes the past couple days.  I want spring, not summer!  My lil pug enjoys the spring weather too but that doesn't make our walks any easier.  If anything, it's now nice enough outside that sometimes during our walks she decides to just plop down and stare at another dog, person, or truck (she loves trucks/vans).

I went for a lunchtime stroll on Friday around the mall and man the tourists were out in massive numbers.  The worst were the ones on segways - they either zoomed past dangerously, or lined up slowly on the path blocking all foot traffic.  I hated them.  Anyways, the day was nice if a bit warm and the cherry blossoms were beautiful.

So I gave my new running shoes, Brooks Trance, a try these past couple weeks.

I know these have gotten rave reviews and a ton of people love them, but I hate these.  They feel like a lot of shoe on my feet and I consistently get foot numbness in my right foot.  But the worst was that after my long run on Sunday my calves and Achilles tendons felt like they were tight little balls of fire.  I was hobbling the next couple days and had to massage those muscles because they were so sore and tight.  So I'm giving these shoes to my sister who likes the cushier shoes.  But for me I think I need a shoe with a lower heel drop.  I think that's why I always used to hate running when I was younger and had so many calf and Achilles issues - I was wearing super cushy shoes that just didn't work for me.  So I'm still searching for a slightly cushier shoe to alternate with my Brooks Green Silence, which are my regular running shoes now.  I love the Green  Silence so much I got another pair!

That's right, I'm rocking my pair with some bright white socks.  They were the only clean pair I had left.  And I pretty much don't care how I look when exercising.

So with my recent bout of calf/Achilles issues I started doing research and discovered compression socks.  Since I'm relatively new to running, this is all new stuff to me.  I decided to try out a pair for pre and post runs and see if they'll help with soreness.  I chose the CEP ones in bright blue because I love all things blue. 

Sexy.

My lil pug is confused by my blue legs.  She was also sad that she could no longer lick my feet, which she loves to do.  She tried licking my socked feet a few times but didn't find it to her taste.  These things are crazy to get on!  I studied a YouTube video of it and was able to successfully get them on but I think I stretched them up too high.  That or I just have further proof that my legs are disproportionately short.  Maybe a little bit of both?  As soon as I got them on I could feel the pressure from the sock and it felt great!  I had some achiness from a run yesterday and I dunno if it was a placebo effect but my legs felt better after wearing these.  Even if it is a placebo effect, I like the benefits of it so keep it coming!  I also secretly like having crazily bright colored knee high socks.

My pug is still disturbed by my socks.

Luckily a baby carrot I was holding distracted her.

As soon as I sit on my couch my pug jumps up and demands that I position myself like this so she can squeeze behind my legs, her favorite spot.  Do you see how I already have a thin layer of pug fur all over my socks?  Sigh, I guess that was inevitable.  I'm excited to see how these socks will work for my long run this weekend.  If they work well, I may need to get some more, but these suckers are expensive!

Now a series of photos of my pug napping in her favorite funny positions and totally using my body as a chin or arm rest.   Enjoy.

Spring Multicolored Nails

 

The coming spring got me in the mood to do fun and multicolored nails recently.  I used the Essie spring 2012 collection for this, with left to right Ole Caliente, Orange It's Obvious, Navigate Her, Tour de Finance, and A Crewed Interest.

My cuticles are so ragged.  After this I took a bit of a hiatus from polish to let my skin and nails recover.  I've put them through a lot ever since my polish obsession began last year.

I love the look of multicolored nails, but I'd probably do a different color selection next time.  I had a hard time deciding on a palette and so I decided to just do the Essie spring 2012 polishes to make it easier.  I think next time I'll do a darker palette and of course need some blue in there.  I love me some blue polishes.

Hello Spring

My lil pug always enjoys her evening walks the most.  Neither of us is rushed and it's much cooler and quieter.  

Those trees look so pretty at night with the light shining up at them!  They're starting to shed their white petals and some green is coming through.  It makes me sad because I actually like the white blooming period the best.  My lil pug enjoys sniffing the fallen petals though.

I wanted to take better photos of the trees but oddly enough someone was practicing putts in the middle of the green late at night.

On another note, I really hate rude dog owners (warning: rant coming).  Today in our after-work walk my lil pug was looking at a nearby big dog.  The woman who was walking this dog was yapping on the phone about shopping and while she was distracted on her phone her dog leaped towards my pug (I think more in play than anything threatening).  The woman yelled out an irritated, "WINSTON!,"saw me and my pug and said shortly, "Uh could you move on thanks" and went back to her phone.  I was stunned at this woman's rudeness!  This wasn't a polite, "oh he needs to do his business," or anything like that.  She said it very quickly and rudely, as though we were in her way and the reason for her interrupted phone conversation.  We were also not even that close to her!  My lil pug was on a short leash and we were in a public sidewalk/green area.  Before my brain could catch up and think of something to say back she was walking away (don't you hate it when that happens?!).  Why did we have to move anyways if she was going to scurry away like that?  So that irritated me and ruined a perfectly good walk.  Luckily my lil pug always cheers me up quickly!

New Dog Bed

Somebody is enjoying her new K&H bolster bed!  I got it on Friday and she's avoided it until today.  I knew she'd love it if she would just give it a try but, like me, she's resistant to change.  She insists on spending most of her bed time on the gross, demolished snuggie bed I got her ages ago.  While on the computer I looked over to see where she was and saw that she was finally trying out the bed!  Score!

How Pug Celebrates St. Patrick's Day

So this is how my lil pug celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  

Hey!  Hey!  Hey!  Let's start drinking!

Hmm, it's not Guinness but it'll do!

Woohoo!!!  Party!

YAWN!  I'm getting a little sleepy...

No, I'm not sleeping.  I'm just resting my eyes a bit.  Let's keep partying.

ZZZZZZZZZZ....snoooooooooore.

The end.

Just Say No To Belly Rubs

My pug was begging for attention one night so I tried to pet her belly but I got belly blocked!

Sometimes she likes to sit up like a human.

Come on can't I rub your belly??

She eventually caved. Silly pug!

Some Feet Issues (Pug and Human)

My pug and I are having some feet issues.

So in the middle of last week I got a call from my dog walker in the afternoon because my apartment building door had closed on my lil pug too quickly and her foot got caught in it and cut up.  I have no idea how the door could cut her foot, but it is a heavy glass and metal door.  I came home a little early to check up on her.  The bleeding had stopped and she was walking on it fine, but I still had a mini freak out.

Do you see all that pug hair on my couch?  That's her lounging spot.  I really need to get a leather couch next time because this cheap couch holds onto every piece of fuzz and fur and shoes every little stain, including water stains!  I hate this couch so much.

Of course, my Houdini pug managed to wriggle her way out of the bandage pretty soon.  Seriously, how did she get her foot out of that while keeping the bandage intact?  By then I thought it would be good to keep her foot open anyways.  At least while in my apartment.  Outside I put a little boot/sock thing on.

She looked so cute and peaceful I did my best to stealthily reach for my camera to take photos.

Sunny is putting up with the whole ordeal pretty well.  Look at her putting on her stoic, brave face.

But of course she needs plenty of rest to heal!  YAWN!

And speaking of feet...I got a new pair of running shoes, Brooks Trance, and I've come to a realization about my feet and running shoes.  

I think I need to buy men's or unisex shoes.  The Brooks Trance are generally great shoes - very light, roomy toe box, cute, well made.  But the heel area is just a bit too narrow for me and I had some foot numbness issues (a common problem for me when my shoes are too narrow or not tall enough).  Thinking back on all the shoes that have worked best for me recently, they're either unisex (Brooks' Green Silence - love them after I managed to break down that extra bit of glue on the left heel that caused bleeding that first time) or men's (my brother-in-law had an extra pair of shoes he gave me when I first started running).  I also do best with shoes that are a bit too big for me.  I like having that extra room, almost like they're slipping off.  So while I like my Brooks Trance and can work with them with looser lacing, I don't love them as much as I thought I would and they feel like a lot of shoe on my foot now that I'm used to more minimal shoes.  Hopefully once I break them in more I'll enjoy them better, but the next pair I get will be men's or unisex minimal shoes.